78 THE SEA-SHORE 



the second place, it is quite soft, without any 

 shelly covering at all. His body and limbs are 

 covered with armour, just like those of other 

 crabs, but his tail has none at all. 



The consequence is that the hermit crab always 

 has to take the very greatest care of his tail. 

 He is so dreadfully afraid that one of his many 

 enemies will come up behind and give it a nip 

 when he isn't looking! So he protects it by 

 tucking it away into the empty shell of a whelk. 

 He never leaves this shell, but drags it about 

 with him wherever he goes. And if you take 

 hold of him and try to pull him out, you will 

 find that you cannot do so without injuring him 

 very badly. For at the end of his tail he has a 

 pair of strong pincer-like organs, with which he 

 holds on so firmly that it is very difficult indeed 

 to make him let go. 



Indeed, the only way to get a hermit crab out 

 of his dwelling is to put him, shell and all, into 

 the spreading arms of a big sea anemone. That 

 frightens him almost out of his wits, for the 

 arms of the anemone at once come closing in, 

 and he knows quite well that if he stays where 

 he is he will very soon be swallowed. So he 

 skips out of the shell and scampers away as 

 fast as he possibly can, leaving the empty shell 

 in the anemone's clutches. 



The poor little animal is now perfectly miser- 

 able. He has no protection for his tail, you see, 



